What Roman Gladiators Did Besides Fighting in Arenas (8 photos)

They had plenty of other work, too - although not all of it was legal.





Initially, gladiator fights were sacrifices at the funerals of noble Romans. At that time, there was even a saying: "We sacrifice the living so that the dead can sleep peacefully." But by 105 BC, such fights were officially recognized as a public spectacle, and Roman magistrates had to organize them. Although fights could be sponsored by citizens - but only by the super-rich, because it cost a lot of money.



Soon, bloody shows became wildly popular and gladiatorial schools, ludus, appeared all over the country. Their owners, lanistas, received a decent income for renting out fighters. But they also invested a lot: training, feeding and treating gladiators cost a pretty penny.





Gladiators included prisoners of war, slaves bought for this purpose, and even impoverished citizens who decided to try themselves in the arena. There were also criminals among them, but they received different sentences: ad gladium (to the sword), ad bestias (to the beast), or ad ludum (to the gladiatorial school). The first two categories were ordinary death row inmates, torn apart by animals or several experienced fighters were brought out against them. But those who ended up with the lanista could survive. And even become famous fighters.



If a gladiator survived after 5 years of fighting (although he usually had only a few fights a year), he was automatically given his freedom. After two battles in the arena, he was given a room in the ludus with a bed and a table. After three, they started paying him money. Over time, the money accumulated and the fighter could buy his freedom. But in theory, he could leave the arena free after each battle - if the organizer of the games wanted to give him a wooden sword, rudis. This was extremely rare - who would just let a smart fighter and a good showman go?



After some time, the gladiators began to be released from the ludus and they walked freely around the city. There were isolated cases of escapes, but the vast majority of them returned to school in a disciplined manner. They had nowhere and no reason to run. And they walked around drinking establishments and brothels (lupanaria). The most famous gladiators, real rock stars of their time, were invited to bed by noble Roman women. These were such pleasant bonuses after hard training and fights.



Well, the freed gladiators went wherever they could. Most were hired as bodyguards for patricians, merchants and other rich people. Another part went to collect taxes and duties. Well, and the rest went to gangs - in Rome and in other cities there were plenty of them. Ex-gladiators were especially valued for the fact that they were not afraid of blood, were calm about cruelty and knew how to dashingly knock money out of stubborn people. Well, or to make it so that a competitor-entrepreneur no longer looms before their eyes. Without noise and dust.



Some fighters remained in their already native school and began to drive and train the youth. Sometimes they even trained legionnaires - they usually fought in a tight formation, but sometimes the legates hired "former" ones to improve the soldiers' skills in individual swordsmanship.



So the gladiators had plenty to do and their lives were not limited to the arena.